Oral narratives regarding the story of Goshtasb in Shahnameh

The story of Goshtasb’s journey to the Roman Empire and his marriage with Katayun, a Byzantine princess in Shahnameh is one of the stories that is strongly continued its literary life in the oral culture of Iranians. What has been Ferdowsi’s source to narrate this story is not clearly known however in nearly all general history books written in Farsi after shahnameh this story is present. In this regard what exists today with variety of narrations among the Iranian ethnic groups is a story called Seapony and in the international tale-type index it is classified under type 314. Although there are minor differences with the Shahnameh narrative, this story has kept many of its structural and semantic characteristics. Since the most ancient international written narratives dates back to the twelfth century, Ferdowsi’s narrative takes precedence over them.